Lathe center



April 13, 1937. w c WEAVER 2,077,293v

LATHE CENTER Filed April 22, 1936 l/i/fi'am dA/ea er ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 13, 1937 UNITED STATES "PATENT OFFICE LATHE CENTER William O. Weaver, Dalmatia, Pa. DiIlication April 22, 1938, Serial No. 75,818

2 Claims. (01. 82-33) My invention relates to improvements in lathe centers, for wood turning lathes.

Important objects of my invention are to provide an emcient lathe center which is rotatable with the work to prevent marking and burning of the latter by friction, particularly adapted to withstand wear under prolonged use and which comprises few parts inexpensive to manufacture and readily assembled and disassembled and in which the center parts proper are packed in grease and anti-frictionally mounted against play either axially or radially. A

Other and subordinate objects together with the precise nature of my improvements will be l5 readily understood when the following description and claims are read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In said drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of my im- 20 proved lathe center, and Figure 2 is a view partly in longitudinal section and partly in side elevation.

Referring to the drawing by numeral, my improved lathe comprises a tapered shank portion 5 I designed to flt in the usual manner in the tailstock of the usual wood turning lathe and formed at its outer end with a concentric cylindrical housing 2. The housing 2 is counter-bored concentrically" to provide a chamber 3 having a large an annular seat 4 at its outer end, reduced portion 5 at its inner end, and front and rear radial shoulders 8 and 1 between the intermediate portion of the chamber 3 and said seat and reduced portion, respectively.

35 The center proper comprises a spindle 8 mounted in the chamber 3 in front and rear anti-friction bearings 9 and I0, respectively, and pro- Jecting outside the front end of said chamber. The rear anti-friction bearing is a radial thrust 40 ball bearing the inner race member H of which is mounted upon a reduced rear end part 12 of the spindle 8.with the outer race member i3 bearing against the rear shoulder "I. The front antifriction bearing 9 is in angular contact tapered 45 roller bearing the inner race member I of which is fitted upon the spindle 8 intermediate its ends with the outer race member l5 fitting in the seat 4 and bearing against the front shoulder 8,

e The spindle 8 is held against the inner race mem- 50 bar ll of the front bearing 9 by an annular'cap member i8 threaded onto the front end of the housing 2, as at IT, over the projecting end of said spindle and bearing against a wide radial flange l8 formed on the spindle 8 and bearing against 55 the outer side of the inner race member M;

The spindle 8 is provided with an axial through bore l9 outwardly flared at the front end of the spindle and an annular outwardly tapered front edge 20 for engaging one end of the work. A center pin 2| having a'sharp point 22 is mounted in 5 the outer end of the bore l3 by means of a tapered shank portion 23 on said pin fitted into the outwardly flared portion of said bore.

The chamber 3 is designed to be packed with grease and is sealed against the leakage of grease 10 by the coengaging cap member l6 and flange II. The reduced rear end 5 of the chamber 3 facili tates the passage of the grease through the rear bearing Iii. The bore IS in the spindle 8 provides for easily driving the center pin 2| out of the spindle 8 for replacement purposes. The relative arrangement of the front anti-friction bear- I ing 3, spindle flange l8 and cap member l8 provide two opposed end thrust bearings one an anti-friction bearing and the other a frictionalv bearing functioning to seal the chamber against leakage of grease therefrom. The particular arrangement of the two end thrust-bearings thus formed positively prevents the spindle from chattering and provides for holding the front end of 25 the spindle in accurately centered position in the front bearing 3. j

The foregoing is a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of my invention and it is thought that its operation and advantages will 0 1 be clear therefrom.

It is to be understood, however, that the present disclosure is illustrative rather than restrictive and that right is herein reserved to modiflcations of details described falling within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

What I claim is:

1. A lathe center comprising, a shank formed with a cylindrical end housing having an interior circular shoulder adjacent its forward end, a 40 tapered roller bearing fitted into the forward end of said housing and including outer and inner race member'sthe former bearing against said shoulder, a spindle mounted in the inner race member and having acircular radial flange opposed to said shoulder and bearing against'the outer side of the, inner race member, said spindle projecting outsideof said housing, and an annular cap member threaded onto said housing over the projecting end of the spindle and bearing against said flange.

2. A center for lathes comprising, a shank provided with a cylindrical end housing having a pair of interior 'circular integral non-resilient shoulders adjacent the front and rear ends there- 2 amazes race member of the front bearing and having a wide circular radial flange opposed to the front bearing, an annular cap member threaded on said housing over the projecting end of said spindle and continuously bearing against said,

flange while the parts are in assembled position. and a center pin fitted into the front end 0; the bore in said spindle.

WILLIAM C. WEAVER. 

